Τετρὰς Ἱσταμένου, IV day From today

Τετρὰς Ἱσταμένου, IV day From today’s sunset: fourth day of Boedromion. The fourth is always sacred to Aphrodite Pandemos, to Hermes and to Herakles, as the symbolic day of Their birthday. Honors are paid to Eros and Hermaphroditos. Banquet of the Tetradistai. Sacrifice to Basile (Erchia); Honors to the Semnai (Athens); Sacrifice to Erechtheus; Eleutheria: Panhellenic festival of Eleutheria- instituted in honour of Zeus Eleutherios after the victory at Plataea. It was intended not merely to be a token of gratitude to the God to whom they were indebted for their victory over the barbarians, but also as a bond of union among all the Hellenes! “When they consulted the Oracle regarding the sacrifice to be made, the Pythian God made answer that they were to erect an altar of Zeus Eleutherios, but were not to sacrifice upon it until they had extinguished the fire throughout the land, which he said had been polluted by the barbarians, and kindled it fresh and pure from the public hearth at Delphi. Accordingly the commanders of Hellenes went about straightway and compelled all who were using fire to extinguish it, while Euchidas, who promised to bring the sacred fire with all conceivable speed, went from Plataea to Delphi. There he purified his person by sprinkling himself with the holy water, and crowned himself with laurel. Then he took from the altar the sacred fire and started to run back to Plataea. He reached the place before the sun had set, accomplishing thus a thousand furlongs in one and the same day. He greeted his countrymen, handed them the sacred fire, and straightway fell down, and after a little expired. In admiration of him the Plataeans gave him burial in the sanctuary of Artemis Eucleia, and inscribed upon his tomb this tetrameter verse:— "Euchidas, to Pytho running, came back here the selfsame day.” After this, there was a general assembly of the Hellenes, at which Aristides proposed a decree to the effect that deputies and delegates from all Hellas convene at Plataea every year, and that every fourth year festival games of deliverance be celebrated — the Eleutheria; also that a confederate Hellenic force be levied, consisting of ten thousand shield, one thousand horse, and one hundred ships, to prosecute the war against the barbarian; also that the Plataeans be set apart as inviolable and consecrate, that they might sacrifice to Zeus Eleutherios in behalf of Hellas.“ (Plutarch, Aristid. 19, 21) “But take care to avoid troubles which eat out the heart on the fourth of the beginning and ending of the month; it is a sacred day: especially during these sacred days it is convenient to get rid of all the activities that make you suffer, which, if at other times you need to choose them as necessary, in these days you should not.” The fourth day is also a suitable day for marriage. (Laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios right / on the reverse,   thunderbolt. From Syracuse, 345–339 BCE. Now in a private collection…) -- source link

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